Still wondering why all the positive things I'm doing is not raising my score. Experian said having a mortgage is the best credit. I have been paying on it for 13 months without a late. Please read my original post at top of this tread.

Question: I see Fico is not offering a product from Experian. Is Experian generating Fico scores to lenders etc, or did they stop and only offer Vantage and Plus?

Was Experian offering Fico scores 16 months ago? Since my score is the same, want to try and figure out what model was used for me 16 months ago, as compared to today.

Still wondering why all the positive things I'm doing is not raising my score. Experian said having a mortgage is the best credit. I have been paying on it for 13 months without a late. Please read my original post at top of this tread.

Question: I see Fico is not offering a product from Experian. Is Experian generating Fico scores to lenders etc, or did they stop and only offer Vantage and Plus?

Was Experian offering Fico scores 16 months ago? Since my score is the same, want to try and figure out what model was used for me 16 months ago, as compared to today.

Thank you.

No one has been able to buy their own Experian FICO score since February of 2009. Creditors can pull Experian and also there is a CU in Pennsylvania that supplies that information to it's members only.

From a BK years ago to:EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802EQ - 7/06-663, 3/10-800TU - 8/10-772You can do the same thing with hard work

Re: Trying to understand Fico scoring

I made a mistake. My Experian score 16 months ago was 700, not 694, so it dropped 6 points. I reduced my credit card from $2600.00 to $257.00 with a credit limit of $13,000.00. I had no mortgage 16 months ago. I made 13 on time payments on it.. I put another 15-16 months of no lates since June, 2009 and yet my scores dropped on all three reports instead of going up. No inquires since June 17, 2009. No new lates.

My lender then pulled a Experian "Plus" score" 16 months ago and it went down???

Re: Trying to understand Fico scoring

I made a mistake. My Experian score 16 months ago was 700, not 694, so it dropped 6 points. I reduced my credit card from $2600.00 to $257.00 with a credit limit of $13,000.00. I had no mortgage 16 months ago. I made 13 on time payments on it.. I put another 15-16 months of no lates since June, 2009 and yet my scores dropped on all three reports instead of going up. No inquires since June 17, 2009. No new lates.

My lender then pulled a Experian "Plus" score" 16 months ago and it went down???

I very much doubt that your lender pulled a "Plus" score. The normal Experian FICO score was available to lenders at that time and still is.

From a BK years ago to:EX - 9/09 pulled by lender 802EQ - 7/06-663, 3/10-800TU - 8/10-772You can do the same thing with hard work

Re: Trying to understand Fico scoring

We can probably assume the original scores were FICO scores since they were pulled by a mortgage lender.

It is possible that some of the scores pulled by the OP are FICO.

IF the TU is a FICO, then it is probably TU98 instead of the TU04 probably pulled by the mortgage lender. Even if he pulled a TU FICO, that makes it slightly different.

I think it is safe to say that the lender didn't pull a EX Plus. It is likely that the OP's recent EX "score" is a Plus. That means there is little correlation between those scores.

Fico64,

Complete info is needed since you can't compare a FICO to any of the FAKOs like the EX Plus. They are based upon different algorithms and can't be compared to each other. Can you tell us where each score after the mortgage scores came from and if it has the FICO logo?

Re: Trying to understand Fico scoring

That's what my lender said, that they were all Fico scores. If I understand correctly then, Experian Fico is still available to lenders even though consumers can't access it.

I'm just trying to understand the scoring. If you have read through the thread, you see that all my scores dropped, even though I did positive things. Just can't understand why my scores went down when I believe they should have gone up. It seems when I call the credit agency's I get someone with limited knowledge and they tell me to call a credit counselor for help. I sure don't need that. Is there a way to escalate my questions with the credit bureau's?

I have 26 year credit history. Total of 18 accounts, 16 of which are/were perfect. I have 2 old accounts, one 30 days late, the other 60 days late. Both closed. Last late payment was 3 years 10 months ago. I have 2 open accounts, a mortgage now 13 months old with no lates and a credit card with a credit limit of $13,000.00 and a balance of $257.00 and no lates. It was opened in 2006. The balance was $2600.00 16 months ago. I have 1 dept store card open with zero balance. Last inquiry was June 17, 2009. That's it.

Re: Trying to understand Fico scoring

I'm sure the scores the mortgage lender pulled are FICOs. That is based upon the fact that they all seem to use a FICO score from all three Credit Bureaus.

We don't know what the scores are after that. I'm suspecting that some of them are not FICOs since you haven't said where they came from and there are few places to get an actual FICO. Some of the FAKOs are way off - high or low.

If you pulled a EQ FICO from myFICO.com then that would be the same as the one the lender pulled. They would both be EQ FICO scores. If you pulled a TU FICO from myFICO.com then they would be slightly different since most mortgage lenders are using TU04 and and myFICO uses TU98. You can't pull an EX FICO so you can't get a score that is the same as what your lender provided.

EX FICO is available to lenders but not to consumers. EX is promoting their Plus Score but my understanding is that lenders don't use it at all.

It is important to understand that "credit score" doesn't mean much unless you know what score. You can't compare apples to oranges even though they are each good in some way. Trying to understand scoring is difficult and the variety of different scores just makes it harder.

The path you are on will definitely increase your scores. Length is helping, mortgage is probably helping by now. The lates are getting older but probably still hurt. I believe you need another major credit card to help - others would know better.

Re: Trying to understand Fico scoring

I ordered Equifax and Trans Union from my Fico. Please read top of post for what I said. Do not want to rehash again.

What I'm trying to understand, over the last 16 months, things were substantially improved and all three scores dropped instead of improving. As I suggested earlier, I conclude that taking out the mortgage has hurt me instead of helped me. I have been paying on it for 13 months and the reports correctly reflect the existing balance.

Experian says in it's analysis: Mortgage, 4 stars, best credit one can have. I did not have a mortgage 16 months ago. My last late is almost three years old.

Re: Trying to understand Fico scoreing

OK, so we are assuming your EQ FICO was 673 when they pulled the mortgage. From your last post we know that the EQ score of 669 is also a EQ FICO. Those are directly comparable. In between you had the inquiries from the mortgage, new mortgage account, lower use of CC, and no more lates. I would expect that to result in a score increase and you have a decrease. 4 points is actually close enough we should call that "the same" but I do realize it is in the wrong direction. I would guess the hit from the inquiries has fallen off but don't know about the new account. I would think a mortgage would help your mix of accounts and would think the reduced CC utilization would help a bit also. The big hit from the lates was already over when you pulled the mortgage score so I doubt you benefit much, if at all, for the age of the lates. If you look at the details of the two reports you could get a better idea but imagine that you don't have the actual reports from the mortgage. I understand that some mortgage companies pull a "mortgage enhanced" FICO score so that might be a bit different also. Others may chime in with more info since I'm not really sure on that. The important part is that your score is headed up, not down.

We now know your TU FICO was 707 and is now 683. That is clearly down but if Hauling's guess is correct, one is TU04 and the other TU98. That makes it hard to compare them directly. You need two scores that you know are based upon the same scoring model.

The current EX report is useful for the details of your accounts. Any EX consumer score or info on what is helping or hurting your score is pretty useless. EX Plus is know to vary by 100 points in either direction to an EX FICO. When I could still get an EX FICO from myFICO.com, my Plus score typically ran 40-80 points higher since Plus seemed to love my 5 mortgages. Others regularly reported Plus way less than their FICO.

Now, I will reveal something. In theory, it should have no effect and that is why I did not mention it. In the early 90's I got in trouble for to much credit. To many credit cards and high balances. I sought the help of credit counseling. They successfully wiped out a few high balances but this information was shown on my credit reports. This information has since long dropped off my credit reports(prior to 2004) My scores were way down prior to 2004. I vowed to never use credit card like I did.

So 16 months ago, when I saw my scores, two of which were 700 and 707, I was delighted. When I pulled my Fico scores last month, was fully expecting to see scores about 715-720 based on the last 15-16 months. You can see my disappointment. "The important part is that your score is headed up, not down." The trend is, it went down not up.

My theory is either the new mortgage is hurting me and can't see why or the system is "holding my feet to the fire" for the past transgressions which long dropped off my reports. I understand this should not be the case, my scores were in the 500's prior to 2004 and may be much slower to recover. In any event, just dose not seem right.

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